Arkansas officials send email urging state employees to attend anti-choice march led by GOP governor

The Arkansas state agency that oversees unemployment insurance and job training sent out an email to all employees on Tuesday promoting an anti-choice march on the state capitol grounds, the Arkansas Times is reporting.

While the email from the Arkansas Workforce Services Department ostensibly seems to be about parking issues associated with the crowds expected for the anti-choice march, in fact that march is scheduled for Sunday Jan. 17 when all state offices are closed.

The memo, addressed to all employees states: “The 38th Annual March for Life will take place on Sunday January 17, 2016 at 2PM (see attachment)” before advising employees on alternative parking areas.

What concerned some employees, who forwarded the email to the Arkansas Times, was the attachment that unabashedly promoted Arkansas Right To Life as it bragged about anti-choice Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) leading the march.

“We are grateful for the support of life that Gov. Hutchinson and our U.S. Senators Boozman and Cotton, the U.S. House delegation, and the Arkansas General Assembly has demonstrated in their efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and protect women and their unborn children from the tragedy of abortion in Arkansas and our nation,” the attachment read.

The public relations memo also touted the deceptively edited videos attacking Planned Parenthood that were created the by the Center for Medical Progress and have become the subject of a lawsuit in California.

“As soon as the undercover videos surfaced showing the callousness of Planned Parenthood executives and abortion providers to human life, discussing procurement of babies’ body parts in an attempt to satisfy their own greed, our Governor took action to deny Planned Parenthood of the Heartland’s contract as a Medicaid provider,” the press release continued.

AWSD director Daryl Bassett has not responded to questions about the use of state government department email to distribute the March for Life news release.

About the Author

Tom Boggioni is based in the quaint seaside community of Pacific Beach in less quaint San Diego. He writes about politics, media, culture, and other annoyances. Mostly he spends his days at the beach gazing at the horizon waiting for the end of the world, or the sun to go down. Whichever comes first.